All season long, the Oklahoma City Thunder have frustrated offenses with their suffocating defense, one which specializes in limiting field goal attempts (second in opponent field goal attempts per 100 possessions) by creating turnovers (first in opposing turnover rate). For the first 24 minutes of Game 1, the Thunder lived up to their reputation. They forced the usually secure Indiana Pacers into committing 19 turnovers, which tied the most for any playoff half in NBA history (per Opta Stats).
Yet in the second half, the Pacers stopped coughing the ball up, only turning it over six times. This completely shifted the tide of the game, allowing them to close the gap and eventually steal a victory behind yet another brilliant Tyrese Haliburton game-winner.
Pacers in the first half: 19 turnovers, lost by 12
Pacers in the second half: 6 turnovers, won by 13— Zach Kram (@zachkram) June 6, 2025
But how on Earth did they manage this Herculean feat?
Sometimes, It’s OK To Be Selfish
Part of the reason the Pacers have become so popular among diehard NBA fans is how aesthetically pleasing their egalitarian offense is to watch. They are the antithesis of the Moreyball Houston Rockets of the late 2010s, constantly moving the ball around until they find the best possible shot.
For most of the season, this approach has served them well. But a big part of winning in the playoffs is being able to adapt to the style of an opponent. Against a turnover-producing machine like the Thunder, the more time one lets the basketball spend in the air, the more opportunities it give them to do what they do best.
The Pacers lead the playoffs in the percentage of their field goals that come from assists (65.8 percent). They continued this trend in the first half, with 66.6 percent of their field goals coming off an assist. But in the second half, the Pacers did something very un-Pacers — they ed the ball less and leaned more on self-generated scoring. Over the final two quarters, only 58.3 percent of their baskets were assisted.
This tough step-back triple by Andrew Nembhard does a good job of summarizing Indiana’s offensive shift in the second half:
If it still doesn’t make sense, perhaps this statistic will help. Kawhi Leonard leads all playoff players in “Team Assist:Turnover Ratio,” a metric pulled by our data analyst, Fran Huzjan, which measures the difference in a team’s assist-to-turnover ratio with and without a player on the floor.
Leonard doesn’t improve the Los Angeles Clippers’ assist-to-turnover ratio by such a drastic margin because he’s some incredible facilitator. Rather, his isolation scoring reduces the potential for chaos because his goodness can be triggered with little to no ing. The same logic applies to the Pacers’ second half. By leaning more on individual scoring, they gave the Thunder fewer chances to steal the ball from them.
Quicker shots, the better.
“You’re never more open than when you first catch the ball” needs to be the mantra.
First open look the Pacers get, they should take. Somewhat the antithesis of how the Pacers play, in of volume ing, but less risk of turnovers.
— Caitlin Cooper (@C2_Cooper) June 6, 2025
Slowing Down The Pace
ESPN’s Richard Jefferson constantly implored the Pacers to slow their pace during the first half. He believed they were unnecessarily speeding themselves up and putting themselves in bad situations.
At first thought, this advice may sound odd. After all, playing faster has been proven to increase overall offensive efficiency, and a big part of the Pacers’ identity is their ability to race up and down the court like the Indy 500 cars right up the road. However, it seems like Jefferson may have been on to something. Indiana went from a pace of 109.0 in the first half to 96.0 in the second half.
One could argue this was a natural side effect from the second half of games generally being slower. But after watching the tape, it’s evident the Pacers were making a deliberate effort to take their foot off the gas.
I tracked every possession after Haliburton and Nembhard checked into the game for the last time with 9:42 left in the fourth quarter. From that point, the Pacers crossed half-court 19 times. Eleven times, it was Nembhard who brought it up, compared to only six times for Haliburton.
Nembhard’s style is more of a funky curveball than Haliburton’s 100 mph fastball. Nembhard harkens from the Jalen Brunson School of methodical dribble moves, patient up-fakes and deliberate pivots. By running the offense through him, the Pacers were able to slow things down and avoid any self-inflicted wounds; it also kept Luguentz Dort, who had four steals, away from the basketball.
When Thursday began, it seemed like Indiana was faced with a nearly impossible task: solving a seemingly unsolvable defensive juggernaut. In Game 1, the Pacers’ solution was to go against their usual urges and reinvent themselves on the fly. The grit and flexibility they displayed in the process has brought them one win closer to their ultimate goal and given them a 1-0 lead in these Finals.
